OPINION: Connecticut’s wind partners are in a tailspin
David Collins
Ørsted, the Danish utility that Gov. Ned Lamont has lavishly accommodated with more than $300 million in renovations to New London’s State Pier, made a bombshell disclosure Tuesday that its U.S. offshore wind projects are in peril, facing a $2.3 billion loss in value.
Ørsted’s share price dropped an astonishing 25% and is down some 70% from its 2021 peak.
“The situation in U.S. offshore wind is severe,” Chief Executive Mads Nipper told reporters, according to Reuters.
The company said it would continue to build the six new wind farms it is developing off the East Coast, although abandoning them is an option.
“If the walk-away scenario is the economical, rational decision for us, then this remains a real scenario for us,” Nipper was reported telling the news media, according to the Marketwatch stock news service.
Ørsted said it has not been successful so far in attempting to increase federal tax credits for the projects from 30% to 40%. And Tuesday’s dire warnings seem like a shot across the bow to U.S. interests hungry for renewable energy.
Are the foreign utilities testing the waters to see if states are willing to renegotiate existing deals or make new ones that will inevitably mean ballooning costs for electric customers?
Ørsted is not alone in blaming supply issues, inflation and rising interest rates as threatening the viability of electricity supply contracts it has already signed with New England states.
Avangrid, the Spanish renewables developer that has already walked away from Massachusetts contracts, said last year it was going to seek an adjustment in its Connecticut contract and ask to make electric customers here pay more for the planned 804 megawatts from its Park City Wind project south of Martha’s Vineyard.
The balance of Connecticut’s anticipated wind power, in addition to the deal with Park City, would be 400 megawatts from Ørsted’s Revolution Wind project, which the company said Tuesday is among those in financial jeopardy.
As the wind companies outline their peril, the reaction here in Connecticut seems especially mute and flat-footed.
I began Monday to seek comment from Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Commissioner Katie Dykes about the current status of the contract with Avangrid, in light of the company’s announcement last year that it wanted to renegotiate it.
The DEEP made little comment at the time and issued only a terse statement to the Connecticut Mirror in May, when asked again about the status of its principal offshore wind procurement contract.
After multiple phone calls and emails, I finally got a statement from DEEP communications, in the name of Dykes, just before my deadline Wednesday. It was word-for-word the exact, three-sentence, say-nothing statement the commissioner gave to the Mirror in May.
“DEEP has been having discussions with Avangrid and other stakeholders in recent weeks to understand the economics of the project in light of the challenges many infrastructure projects are facing,” the statement said, mentioning inflation, COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine.
Recent weeks? Avangrid first said publicly last September it wanted to renegotiate the deal.
I understand that it’s hard to know what to say, let alone come to the phone and answer questions, when the renewable energy policy you’ve been working on for years appears to be unraveling.
But I think Connecticut voters and electric ratepayers deserve more than a lame, three-month-old, regurgitated statement from the DEEP commissioner, as the state’s renewable energy policy appears to be melting down. I’m sure they pay those communications staffers a lot of money.
Gov. Lamont also had nothing to say Wednesday after I asked for comment about Ørsted’s suggestion that it could walk away from its financially troubled U.S. offshore wind projects. Nothing. No response at all. Crickets.
Of course for Gov. Lamont, an Ørsted U.S. meltdown would be especially embarrassing, after he oversaw, on behalf of the Danish utility, a $300 million renovation of State Pier, with its massive overruns, corruption scandals and ongoing criminal investigations.
There are similar facilities already in place in the Northeast, and the equipment now at State Pier will be used to build a wind farm to power New York homes.
It seems at least possible, from the news this week, that State Pier, which Lamont closed to traditional shipping and spent hundreds of millions renovating for the very specific needs of the offshore wind industry, might never play a role in providing electricity to Connecticut.
OSLO, Aug 30 (Reuters) - Denmark's Orsted (ORSTED.CO), the world's largest offshore wind farm developer, said on Wednesday it may see U.S. impairments of 16 billion Danish crowns ($2.3 billion) due to supply chain problems, soaring interest rates and a lack of new tax credits.
Orsted's share price tumbled 20% to its lowest level in more than four years and is down almost 70% from its 2021 peak.
"The situation in U.S. offshore wind is severe," Chief Executive Mads Nipper told reporters on a conference call.
The company's Ocean Wind 1, Sunrise Wind, and Revolution Wind projects are adversely impacted by several supplier delays, which may trigger impairments of up to 5 billion crowns, the company said in a statement.
Orsted said the company's discussions with "senior federal stakeholders" on obtaining more U.S. tax credits for its offshore wind projects had not progressed as expected, which in turn could lead to impairments of another 6 billion crowns.
On top of this, the increase in long-dated interest rates in the United States affected both offshore as well as some onshore wind projects and will cause impairments of around 5 billion crowns, Orsted said.
"Today's announcement flags risks in the U.S. portfolio and does not do anything to improve the downbeat investor sentiment on the stock," analysts at Bernstein said in a note to clients.
Orsted bought its remaining stake in Ocean Wind 1, the 1.1 gigawatt wind power project off the coast of New Jersey, from Public Service Enterprise Group (PEG.N) earlier this year.
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The company on Wednesday said it does not expect the anticipated impact to change its previously announced EBITDA guidance for the year.
The U.S. government has set a national goal to develop 30 gigawatt of offshore wind by 2030.
($1 = 6.8589 Danish crowns)
Funding plan in place to start work on Norwich business park road
Claire Bessette
Norwich ― Nearly $11.9 million awarded to the Norwich Community Development Corp. by the state to build the first half of an access road into the proposed second business park in Occum will come as reimbursement for work done, prompting the agency to seek a line of credit from a local bank to cover the initial work.
Along with that loan will be interest payments, and Norwich Public Utilities agreed Tuesday to pay up to $125,000 in interest payments for an estimated three years to get the project started.
The Board of Public Utilities Commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday to approve a resolution authorizing NPU General Manager Chris LaRose to enter into an interest funding agreement with NCDC for up to $125,000.
NCDC received the $11.4 million grant from the state Community Investment Fund and a $500,000 Urban Act grant to cover the construction of the access road, infrastructure and utility installations from Route 97 in Occum westward into the business park property, ending just past the Canterbury Turnpike intersection. NCDC is seeking additional funding for the second half of the proposed road from Canterbury Turnpike to Lawler Lane.
NCDC President Kevin Brown told the utility commission that NCDC is negotiating with an as-yet undisclosed local bank on an $11.9 million line of credit to pay the upfront engineering and construction costs. He said the process calls for NCDC to submit invoices to the state and be reimbursed through grant money.
LaRose said NCDC would have to submit invoices to NPU for the loan interest money as well.
LaRose said the business park project and the new road will benefit the utility with new electric, natural gas, water and sewer lines into the new business park.
The road design is undergoing state and local permit reviews this fall. NCDC has selected the national firm, Cushman & Wakefield Commercial Real Estate Brokers to market parcels in the business park for development.
Michael Puffer
The development group that owns the former UConn campus in West Hartford is proposing 620 residential units in a plan that has vastly changed since a proposal was shared publicly in February.
West Hartford 1 LLC – which paid $2.75 million for the 57-acre campus along Asylum Avenue in 2021 – shared a plan in February mixing 492 apartments with retail, restaurants, a large medical office building and a grocery store.
A new plan, which is scheduled for review by West Hartford’s Design Review Advisory Committee on Thursday, reduces the apartment number to 428, but adds 34 owner-occupied townhouse units and a 158-unit assisted living facility. That’s 620 residential units altogether.
The latest version drops a medical office building and a ramp parking garage from the plans.
Public Relations firm Sullivan & LeShane issued a statement on behalf of West Hartford 1, saying the changes are in response to feedback from the town and residents living near the campus at 1700 and 1800 Asylum Ave. The plan also offers “enhanced buffering” of woodlands, wetlands and meadows, according to the release.
“We believe the resulting scale and vision will blend well with the character of the neighborhood and enhance the features that make West Hartford such a vibrant community,” reads a portion of the statement.
The ownership behind West Hartford 1 LLC has been unclear. The limited liability company shares a West Hartford office with Dominion Realty Group, whose principal
Domenic Carpionato is a senior vice president with Rhode Island real estate development company Carpionato Group. The Rhode Island firm, however, is not involved in the development.
The plans submitted ahead of this Thursday’s meeting reshaped the layout and design, along with the composition of the development on the campus. The development site is broken into two properties on either side of Trout Brook Drive.
Timex Middlebury HQ sold as development plans linger
Hanna Snyder Gambini
The Timex headquarters building in Middlebury has been sold for $7.5 million as proposed development plans for a new distribution center are in limbo.
According to town land records, Timex Group USA Inc. sold the 73,000-square-foot office building to Southford Park LLC and principals David Drubner and Joseph L. Zink in a deal recorded Aug. 28.
The 92-acre property at 555 Christian Road has a total appraised value of $9 million.
Members of the Drubner family also own an adjacent 20 acres at 764 Southford Road, which was merged with the Timex property for a planned food distribution complex with two buildings totaling more than 700,000 square feet.
Plans gained town Conservation Commission permit approval in May before a legislative move changed the allowed maximum size of distribution centers in smaller towns.
Timex is still occupying the property as owners and applicants continue to work through the land use process.
CT Construction Digest Wednesday August 30, 2023
CT town nixes massive mega-warehouse plan with residents favoring conservation
Despite the addition of massive distribution centers near Bradley International Airport in recent years, Windsor Locks rejected a developer’s proposal to create a mega-warehouse along Route 20.
Scannell Properties had forecast creating 200 temporary construction jobs and 144 full-time warehouse jobs after the building was completed, and estimated Windsor Locks could get as much as $900,000 in new annual tax revenue.
But municipal officials sided with residents who warned of steeply worsened noise and traffic. They also cautioned that tranquility at the almost 200-acre Waterworks Brook parcel nearby would be ruined by such a massive industrial operation.
Scannell wanted Windsor Locks to rezone more than 70 acres to permit its project. When the planning and zoning commission reviewed the proposal earlier this month, Vice Chairman Alan Gannuscio said the town had seen ” a zone-change-a-palooza” since the Thrall family decided about a decade ago to stop growing tobacco on the property.
Most recently, JABPS Sports Management in 2018 proposed a sprawling sports complex that would have included a 3,500-seat stadium, nearly two dozen indoor basketball and volleyball courts, eight outdoor playing fields and more for the property at Old County Road and Route 20. But that developer dropped the Windsor Locks plan and is now pursuing a similar one in Enfield.
Scannell this year noted that the planning and zoning commission had given that project the go-ahead, and also emphasized that numerous warehouses are already near the property.
But former state Rep. Carl Schiessl and other residents balked at the company’s plan this summer, stressing that the conservation easement on nearby land was intended to permanently protect it along its wildlife habitats.
Gannuscio appeared to agree, noting that that the town bought the nearby Waterworks property because of conservation efforts by the local residents and state officials.
“What more of a Plan of Conservation and No Development could you ask for?,” he asked his colleagues, noting that in the town’s long-term development plan trucking or distribution uses of the property should be discouraged.
Gannuscio noted that the zone change request had been met with organized opposition, and added that a zone change with the potential to harm neighbors and preserved lands shouldn’t be approved.
Commission member Vincent Zimnoch acknowledged that Scannell and its consultants had suggested the town would get financial benefits from the warehouse, but said that’s not a consideration for the zoning commission. Instead, commissioners are responsible for the well-being of residents, he said.
Since the property is not connected to rail lines, it would have to be served by trucks, said Zimnoch, who emphasized that the town’s long-term development plan specifically discourages trucking industries in that area.
Chairwoman Peggy Sayers said the Waterworks property is an asset to the town, and it is vital the new development not harm it or residential neighbors. She said she was concerned about extensive water runoff if the building and parking lot are constructed.
The commission voted down Scannell’s request 4-1.
CT Construction Digest Tuesday August 29, 2023
Fairfield applies to intervene in United Illuminating power line project
Jarrod Wardwell
FAIRFIELD — The town has applied to intervene in a United Illuminating petition to replace railroad power lines with monopoles that could be 95 to 145 feet tall and remove private acreage from local property owners.
First Selectwoman Brenda Kupchick signed off Thursday on the application to become a party intervenor before the Connecticut Siting Council and requested a hearing to address the "unreasonable impacts to the natural resources" around the project.
UI plans to rebuild 8.1 miles of transmission lines from the Eversource-UI demarcation point in Fairfield to the Congress Street substation in Bridgeport, the utility company announced last year. It's the fifth phase of a larger project to rebuild 25 miles of transmission line from West Haven to Fairfield and aims to strengthen the reliability of the electrical grid and address the age and deterioration of the current transmission lines.
"I think that is also partially why they're thinking they can propose such a dramatic impact to our community, because they think probably they can defend it by the resiliency it will provide to the rest of the grid," said Democratic state Rep. Jennifer Leeper, who represents Fairfield and notified constituents this year about the project.
UI spokesperson Sarah Wall said the company is focused on working with property owners, regulators and leaders from the community as a "good neighbor" throughout the project.
"UI’s core objective is to provide safe and reliable electricity to our customers, and the Fairfield to Congress transmission line upgrade is essential to exceeding our customers’ expectations of reliable power as we improve the system’s resiliency against storms and advance the clean energy transition," Wall said in an email.
UI submitted its application in March for the project to the Siting Council, which will grant final approval for the plans.
"The council is being asked to render a decision which will impact the substantive rights of many town residents," Fairfield's application reads.
UI will raise the transmission lines from the catenary structures holding the electrical wires to much higher monopoles that will stand between 95 and 145 feet high to the south of the tracks in Fairfield and north and south of the tracks in Bridgeport, according to UI's plans.
Leeper said UI will build some of the monopoles on private property, in some cases using up to 18 feet of space. Affected areas include South Gate Lane in Southport and Kings Highway.
Fairfield's application to intervene states the project could impact "scenic vistas" and "historic districts," remove trees, use herbicides, seize land, damage wetlands and harm property values.
"The town will demonstrate that the UI design does not incorporate the best available technology for reducing the visual impacts of the facilities, in that the design fails to full consider the impacts to historic districts, property owners, natural habitats, neighboring property uses and nearby homes, businesses and municipalities," the application reads.
Fairfield would present information and experts to support alternative plans with "less visual impact" and cross-examine witnesses from UI at the hearing the town requested, according to its application.
Town officials have been in contact with UI about the project since July 2021, according to state records. Leeper said the town missed the deadline to file as an intervenor but added in a Facebook comment that the Siting Council stated they were "very likely to grant it."
The Office of the First Selectwoman did not immediately return a request for comment about why the town missed the deadline to file.
Kupchick said during a Board of Selectman meeting last week she was unaware of any state deadline to file for intervention and "surprised" when Leeper contacted her about it earlier this month. She said town officials have conducted several meetings and "submitted tons of information" about the project in recent months. UI held public hearings in January for residents whom the project would "directly" impact, she added.
"We are super involved," Kupchick said at the meeting. "We want to be involved, of course. It's just I wasn't aware there was some deadline regarding intervening status."
Kupchick said she hired an attorney to submit the party intervenor application. Timothy Herbst of Marino, Zebell and Schellenberg, PLLC, a law practice based in Orange, submitted the application the document shows.
Construction is set to begin in the first quarter of 2025 and wrap up by the middle of 2028 before "final restoration" trickles into 2029, according to information UI released.
Leeper said she has requested the Siting Council reconsider burying the power lines or at least keep the monopoles on the railroad, but the town's intervention would more likely negotiate the terms of UI's plans, such as monopole height, instead of outright canceling them. She said lower monopoles could potentially fit within the railroad corridor instead of crossing into neighbors' property.
She said underground transmission lines could protect power lines from the effects of severe storms powerful enough to topple poles but would likely cost as much as $1 billion because of the blasting needed to crack through granite in the ground. The monopoles would cost closer to $200 to $250 million, she said.
"That makes it much more expensive, but undergrounding just makes your power infrastructure, your lines, less susceptible to falling trees, less poles for car accidents let's say for example," she said.
Southington planners approve large warehouse on Spring Street
SOUTHINGTON – Town planners approved a 283,000-square-foot warehouse off Spring Street, although it’s not known what company will coming to Southington.
Johnson Development Associates received special permit approval last week for the project, which will take place at 99 Smoron Drive, a small street in an industrial area off Spring Street. The $45 million project will be built to attract a tenant next year.
While planners had some concerns about the effect of traffic from the facility, they said the developer had met the town’s regulations and that the single-building plan was better than another proposal for 12 different industrial tenants on the 60-acre property.
“Because it fits the regulations, we really are duty bound to approve it,” said Bob Hammersley, Planning and Zoning Commission chairman. “We don’t have that leeway.”
Warehouse builder looking for highway access
Tripp Bailey presented the company’s plan to the commission at its meeting on Wednesday. He said the company is building these types of warehouses throughout the country and markets them to companies that distribute or store products. Bailey said the company has built facilities for a meal delivery kit company, an electric vehicle home charging station company and an architectural design company.
“A very wide array of tenants can occupy these buildings,” he said.
Usually such companies decide to lease a building about three months before they need to move in. With construction time of more than a year, Bailey said his company builds the warehouse before knowing who’ll move in.
“The only way to provide that space is to build speculatively,” Bailey said, which entailed some risk on the part of Johnson Development. “If we just waited for a build to suit tenant before we started construction, the likelhood is that this project would sit for years waiting for that needle in a haystack tenant willing to wait for two years.”
The Smoron Drive site, part of a former farm, was ideal due to its close proximity to the Queen Street exit of Interstate 84.
Effects on traffic
Opposition to the plan from neighbors focused mostly on traffic, although some were concerned about the noise from the warehouse as well.
Area opponents worried about adding traffic to the Spring Street and Queen Street intersection, which can get backed up with the existing traffic. They were also worried that trucks might go through residential areas to the west and take the West Street exit to I-84.
Cynthia Lombardo, a Spring Street resident, said there’s already problems with the noise of braking trucks. Her house shakes when they go by, she said, on their way to existing businesses. Adding a warehouse would make the problem worse.
“It is going to affect you and everybody else that uses Spring Street and Queen Street and West Street,” she told commissioners. “They are going to use West Street.”
Engineers representing Johnson Development said the projected traffic would cause issues at the Spring Street and Queen Street light, but said it could be fixed by adjusting the timing on the traffic signal there. That’d require approval from the state, which engineers believed would be granted.
Lou Perillo, the town’s economic development coordinator, said trucks were unlikely to take the longer route to I-84 via West Street since time and wear and tear on vehicles is the main expense in trucking. He expected the vast majority of traffic to head to Queen Street.
Southington can’t prohibit trucks driving from a facility in town from using West Street, town leaders said.
A better alternative
Mark Lovley, a local developer and an owner of the property, said he’d planned to build a 12-lot industrial subdivision before Johnson Development suggested their plan. He preferred the single building that company proposed, saying it was likely less traffic and less impact to undeveloped area.
Perillo said in an industrial zone, much more intrusive uses are allowed by law.
“Is it perfect? No,” he said of the warehouse plan. “Is it a lot better than other things that could go there? Sure.”
Commission members approved the project with only one member, Democrat Christina Volpe, voting in opposition.
Peter Santago, a Republican, said there were few options.
“We have to weigh in on what’s in front of us, legally,” he said. “It’s an industrial facility in an industrial zone.”
Nearly 7% of US bridges in poor condition
Julie Strupp
Thirty-six percent of all U.S. bridges, more than 222,000 spans, require major repair work or replacement, according to the American Road & Transportation Builders Association’s 2023 analysis of the U.S. DOT’s National Bridge Inventory database.
Based on average cost data that states submitted to the DOT, ARTBA estimates it would cost over $319 billion to make all needed repairs. By contrast, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act designates $40 billion in federal money over five years for bridge repairs and replacement.
Bridges newly rated in poor condition this year include I-345 over I-30 and US 75 Dart Rail in Dallas, the Lacey V. Murrow Memorial Bridge in Seattle and the Route I‐678 span over Flushing Bay Promenade in New York City.
Dive Insight:
Happily, there are 560 fewer bridges in poor condition than last year. Over the past five years, the share of bridges in fair condition has continued to grow as the percentage of spans in poor or good condition declined. Thanks to increased federal investment, there is more money available to address these gaps — but many states are not taking full advantage, ARTBA’s analysis showed.
States currently have access to $10.6 billion in IIJA Bridge Formula Program funds to help make needed repairs, and another $15.9 billion will be available in the next three years. These funds have helped support over 2,060 bridge projects in the construction and repair pipeline, according to the ARTBA report. Another new IIJA bridge program, the Bridge Investment Program, has an additional $12.5 billion for projects that will be awarded through 2026.
However, as the end of fiscal year 2023 approaches on Sept. 30, states have committed $3.2 billion — just 30% — of available bridge formula funds to 2,060 projects, with $7.4 billion still coming, according to ARTBA. Only eight states have committed more than two-thirds of their bridge formula funding to specific projects, while 31 states have committed less than a third of available money as of June 30.
In 2023, nearly half of all U.S. bridges — 48.9% — were in fair condition, while bridges in poor condition make up 6.8% of the overall inventory.
Other bridges newly rated in poor condition this year include:
NC 58 over the Intracoastal Waterway in North Carolina.
I‐84 White Salmon over the Columbia River in Oregon.
State Route 51 Northbound in Sacramento, California.
LA 27 over the Intercoastal Waterway in Gibbstown, Louisiana.
US 21 Southbound over Beaufort River in South Carolina.
PR 53 over Grand De Patillas River in Puerto Rico.
SH 146 over Clear Creek and Shipyard Drive in Texas.
In an interview with Scripps News, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said there has not been sufficient funding for bridge repairs for many administrations, which has created a massive backlog.
“We’re taking historically large steps, but the work of reversing probably 40, 50 years of degradation or underinvestment is going to be more than a couple of years’ work,” said Buttigieg. “The important thing is right now we are moving it in the right direction so that instead of getting worse, it’s getting better.”
A 2022 Congressional Research Service report said it would take 20 years to eliminate the backlog of ailing bridges — but only if Congress maintained high funding levels.
CT Construction Digest Monday August 28, 2023
Elizabeth Regan
East Lyme ― The flashing lights of multi-agency contingents of crash trucks and police cruisers brought traffic to a gradual stop Thursday morning on both sides of Interstate 95 while East Lyme police Lt. Mike Macek brought up the rear on the southbound side.
His Motorola radio, on loan from project contractor Manafort Brothers crackled inside his cruiser. It was go-time for one more daily detonation intended to blast away 300 feet of ledge along the right lane on the northbound side of the highway.
Originally estimated as a six- to eight-week project, the blasting effort represents one of the first critical phases of the four-year, $148 million reconstruction of the highway. Resident Engineer Robert Obey of Glastonbury-based GM2 said crews could be looking at an extra month of blasting because an especially challenging section of ledge has resulted in longer closures and fewer detonations than project officials anticipated.
Each blasting period requires the complete closure of the highway between exits 74 and 75. The goal is to get it open again within 20 minutes, though project data shows there were more closures lasting over 20 minutes than under.
A voice came through Macek’s radio again after two Manafort pickup trucks swept the area for stragglers or disabled vehicles and took their place on either end of the cleared highway.
“Manafort is in position,” the voice said. “Maine Drilling, the highway is yours.”
Foreshadowed by a “fire in the hole” call from the blasting operator, charges loaded into machine-drilled holes 30 to 40 feet deep exploded beneath massive blast mats designed to contain the debris.
About 10 mats, each one made of 12,000 pounds of recycled tires and stacked to overlap, lurched in a cloud of dust upon detonation. The mats dulled the sound so that it wasn’t audible 1,000 feet from the blast.
Obey said daily efforts to monitor vibrations and movement at the nearby Smilow Cancer Hospital Care Center in Waterford, where sophisticated but delicate instrumentation can be sensitive to blasts, has shown no disturbance down the road.
It turned out to be what Obey would classify as a “good blast.” That’s the kind of explosion that doesn't end up with blast mats on the highway and concrete barriers pushed into the road.
Traffic was moving again on the southbound side in the time it took the foreman to check the expanse for debris before exiting the highway and reentering on the northbound side to help with cleanup closer to the blast site.
Nine minutes after the 11:05 a.m. detonation, the northbound lane was open too. The quickest turnaround to date, it was a stark contrast to detonations on Monday and Thursday of last week that resulted in the longest closures since blasting began on Aug. 1. In both cases, stopped traffic was detoured off the highway along Routes 161 and 1 before the lanes opened up again 46 minutes later.
State Department of Transportation project engineer Andrew Millovitsch said last Thursday’s delays were exacerbated when the reopened highway had to be closed again after inspection of the blast site revealed rock remnants on top that could potentially cause problems if dislodged.
“So we went ahead and made the judgment call that we’d need to do the second closure to go ahead and surgically remove some of the bigger rocks off the top so they didn’t decide to tumble down against the barrier at midnight when we’re all home in bed,” Millovitsch said.
Obey, a former district engineer for the DOT, emphasized the balancing act that comes from trying to keep the highway open while ensuring public safety.
“We have to sleep at night,” he said. “So we have to make sure that if there’s even a chance that something could fall and go into the highway, that it doesn’t happen.”
An original plan to conduct two separate blasts per day – both within the 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. time frame – has been on hold while Obey waits for closures to consistently come in below the 20-minute maximum. Up until Wednesday, he hadn’t seen times within the acceptable window since Aug. 9.
“At two blasts a day, this was estimated to take two months,” he said. “And we haven’t done a two-blast yet. So we’re adding a month.”
After Thursday’s nine-minute closure, he was optimistic “a two-blast day is in the future.”
Difficult terrain
Standing on the ledge about 30 feet over the highway and 15 feet from the edge of the road where peak traffic can bring 80,000 cars a day, Obey said the blast site is one of the closest to the highway that he’s encountered.
That makes it especially difficult and time-consuming to keep debris off the adjacent northbound side of the highway, though the southbound side has remained clear.
Millovitsch acknowledged summer construction comes with peak traffic volumes and carloads of frustrated drivers.
“We have to maintain two lanes of traffic in both directions at every minute possible,” he said. “We know the pain that it causes.”
Obey said the four-and-a-half-year project schedule makes it that much more imperative not to allow any more holdups. That means sticking to under 20 minutes for each closure so crews can move to two blasts per day.
“I can’t have the construction schedule be delayed,” he said. “The public is expecting us to figure it out.”
For information and updates, and to sign up for text alerts about upcoming blasts, visit the project website at i-95eastlyme.com.
Construction has highest overdose mortality rate of all jobs
Drug overdose mortality varies widely by occupation, and construction is an especially deadly industry. Construction and extraction jobs led all others in the first year of the pandemic with 162.6 drug overdose deaths per 100,000 workers, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The overall drug overdose rate increased most years from 1999 to 2020, and in 2021 the U.S. drug overdose rate was 50% higher than in 2019, the report found. Provisional data from 2022 shows drug overdoses dropped 2% from the year before.
Construction and extraction occupations’ high overdose mortality rate not only led all industries in 2020, but the 162.6 deaths per 100,000 workers were significantly higher than the 117.9 in food preparation and serving-related occupations, which had the second highest rate.
Work-related characteristics, such as the prevalence of workplace injuries, precarious employment, health insurance status, stress, lack of access to paid sick leave and unique stressors during the COVID-19 pandemic impacted the “prevalence and management of substance use disorders,” the CDC said.
In the broader industry group, construction led all categories with a rate of 130.9 deaths, followed by accommodation and food services with 99.6.
On a more granular level, among construction and extraction occupations, the jobs with the highest overdose rates were roofers (177.4) drywall installers and tapers (175.1) and painters (162.1).
A combination of seasonal furloughs, demanding physical labor — which can lead to strain or injury resulting in a chemical dependency — and workplace culture that sometimes fails to address mental health directly impacts the drug overdose and suicide rate in construction.
“Every day, construction workers show up to a jobsite that is ever-changing, presenting potential exposures to high-risk safety situations,” Keith McCoy, senior vice president of safety at Balfour Beatty U.S. told Construction Dive in a round table discussion on mental health. “Having to deal with this very unique work environment internally, in addition to workers’ own personal worries and stresses outside of the job, can have a significant impact on their mental health and well-being.”
Designs take shape for two new Norwich elementary schools
Claire Bessette
Norwich ― Designs for the first two new elementary schools approved by voters last fall are starting to take shape, with approval this week of the educational components for the new John B. Stanton and Greeneville elementary schools.
No architectural renderings have been created yet, project officials told the Board of Education at a special meeting Wednesday. But while many of the components will be the same or similar for the four new elementary schools in the project, the exterior building designs, facades and materials will be individual to match the surrounding neighborhoods.
“The objective is to design a building that fits in with the neighborhood,” said Gregory Smolley, senior project manager for DRA Inc., the architectural firm for the first two schools. “You didn’t want to end up with cookie-cutter schools across the city.”
The Board of Education on Wednesday approved preliminary educational specifications for the first two schools to be built, the new Stanton and Greeneville elementary schools. The documents are attached to the Aug. 23 electronic special meeting agenda packet, and will be posted on the school’s main website once they are finalized.
The new Greeneville School, to be built on the grounds of a demolished former school at 165 Golden St. and adjacent city-owned property. The two schools have the same 79,978 square feet of building area with projections of enrollment capacities of 597 students.
Along with classrooms, offices, libraries, gymnasium and cafeteria spaces, each school will include office space for a school resource police officer and space for a school-based health center in addition to school nurses’ offices.
The school district this year is scrambling to house preschool in the cramped elementary schools after closing the Bishop Early Learning Center due to budget cuts. The new schools will have fully equipped preschool classrooms, with bathrooms and amenities. The new Stanton and Greeneville schools will have five preschool classrooms each, along with four kindergarten rooms and 20 classrooms for grades one through five.
Additional classrooms are planned for special education, music, reading and math intervention and for English language learners.
Smolley and Mike Faenza, hired by the school building committee as the owner’s representative/project manager, said all the city school projects will be designed with energy efficiencies at least 20% to 40% higher than minimum building code standards, as required for state grant reimbursements. In addition to mechanical efficiency components, designers will consider windows and building orientation on each property.
Stanton School will be built on the 386 New London Turnpike grounds of the existing school, which will be torn down once the new school is completed. Because Greeneville School will be built on vacant land, construction is expected to be slightly quicker. Greeneville is expected to be completed in July 2026 and Stanton in August 2026, with both schools are expected to open for the 2026-27 school year.
Each project faces a rigorous state approval process and then will require city planning and zoning permits. The education specifications approved Wednesday will be submitted to the state this week, well in advance of the Oct. 1 deadline, Faenza told the Board of Education. There will be three design phases before construction documents are prepared next summer and submitted for state approval in fall of 2024. Local permit applications will follow in November and December 2024, and project officials then will seek state approval to put the projects out to bid.
School Building Committee Chairman Mark Bettencourt said design work for the next two elementary schools, the John Moriarty and Uncas schools, and the complete renovation of Teachers Memorial Global Studies Magnet Middle School, are scheduled to begin next year, allowing for some overlapping schedules.
Voters last fall overwhelmingly approved a $385 million school construction bond to build the four new elementary schools and a complete renovation of the Global Studies middle school. The state legislature in the spring session boosted Norwich’s state reimbursement for approved expenses to 80% for the first two school projects. Bettencourt said the building committee hopes for similar reimbursement rates for the future schools.
Annual Penalty OK’d For English Station Mess
NORA GRACE-FLOOD
United Illuminating will have to pay up for breaking a promise to remediate a Fair Haven power plant after state utility regulators formally accused the company of mismanaging English Station — and of failing to prioritize New Haven residents over profit.
In a nearly 300-page decision filed on Friday rejecting a proposed rate hike by the regional company, the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) further cracked down on United Illuminating for stalling on its commitment to clean up the power plant at 511 Grand Ave. that they formerly owned and operated for decades.
Read that final PURA decision, which deals with English Station beginning on page 98, here.
“The authority finds that the company has not managed the English station remediation with economy, efficiency or care for public safety,” PURA’s decision reads. “The company has demonstrated a willingness to prioritize the company’s and shareholders’ interest over ratepayers and its obligations as a public service company.”
The authority has officially imposed a 20-basis point reduction on the company’s return on equity for each year that United Illuminating does not comply with a partial consent order they signed with the state in 2017. In that partial consent order, the company agreed to put $30 million towards investigating and completing a remediation of the site known as English Station — which is reportedly polluted with carcinogens, polychlorinated biphenyls, heavy metals and other contaminants produced over the years UI burned coal and oil on scene — over three years.
PURA wrote that the penalty, which UI estimated would amount to a fine of around $1.63 million per year, is warranted to “incentivize the company to fulfill its obligation to remediate the site.”
Read in more detail about PURA’s critique of the company here. They argued that UI had committed to remediate the site not only with the state, but as a condition of a business merger that the authority itself signed off on between UI and the energy company Iberdrola.
Six years later, PURA stated that UI has spent just over half of a $30 million sum they’d promised to allot towards site remediation within a three-year time frame. PURA pointed to turnover of six different managers for the project under UI’s watch as evidence of mismanagement and critiqued graffiti covering the station’s fences and gates as proof of poor site security.
That mismanagement, PURA asserted, “has deprived the state and its residents both economically and environmentally.”
The financial penalty, PURA determined, will remain in effect until the company complies with the conditions of the remediation as laid out in the partial consent order with the state and the merger decision.
UI spoke out against a draft decision issued by PURA in early August which articulated the above claims. They denied accusations of mismanagement and suggested that PURA was operating out of the scope of their own powers by proposing a financial penalty. Asked for comment about PURA’s final and formal decision to move forward with the fine, UI Spokesperson Sarah Wall simply wrote: “We are evaluating PURA’s decision.”
State Attorney General William Tong, meanwhile, released a press release praising the state regulatory agency for seeking to hold United Illuminating accountable for their actions, or lack thereof.
“United Illuminating has utterly refused to meet its commitments to remediate English Station,” Tong wrote in a statement. “United Illuminating can stop this annual penalty at any time by getting serious about their clear obligations under the law. And if a $2 million annual penalty isn’t enough to convince United Illuminating of their legal obligations, I will continue to do everything in my power to compel the company to clean-up English Station and honor their commitments to the New Haven community and the state of Connecticut.”
New London community center site an opportunity for budding builders
John Penney
New London ― Besides the promise of new recreational offerings, the community center construction project will offer a rare chance to connect with young residents even before the facility’s doors open, city officials said.
With up to two years of work ahead on the city’s largest project, there’s plenty of time to use the Fort Trumbull-area building site as a sort of real-time construction classroom, said Felix Reyes, director of New London’s Office of Planning and Development.
“I’m a kid from New London who grew up loving construction and I think how excited I’d have been to have that opportunity to go down to that site and walk around,” he said on Thursday. “I put myself in the shoes of those kids that love building design, those future electricians, plumbers and architects.”
Reyes said he’s already started reaching out to school and union officials to coordinate tours of the site as soon as the facility walls begin going up.
“This is a once-in-a-generation building project and we can let these kids, these thousands of bright minds, walk the site and see what’s going on behind the walls,” he said. “And we want people and groups who’ll be using the center to come down, too, and see the inside of that building ahead of time.”
Council President Reona Dyess this month said the site offers the chance to “open doors” to young residents interested in how a large-scale municipal project comes together.
Excavating the past
On Monday, Reyes presented the first of what is expected to be monthly summaries of the project’s progress to the City Council. In addition to the paper updates, councilors, along with select officials, are invited to take part in monthly tours of the site, visits Reyes said he’s open to expanding to members of the public, including “neighborhood advocates.”
After months of delays due to the state environmental permitting process, crews last month broke ground on the $40 million project that aims to transform a patch of brownfield into a 58,000-square-foot, recreational facility complete with competitive pool and basketball court areas, batting cages, recreation department offices and programming space.
On Wednesday, mountains of excavated soil rose above utility trenches. Workers wearing hard hats walked past idling construction vehicles across the street from Fort Trumbull State Park.
Reyes, who described the site, the former home to the Navy Underwater Sound Laboratory as currently looking as if a “bomb went off,” said work is currently focused on examining and clearing soil, groundwater and old foundations, the kind of preliminary work required before walls start rising.
“They actually found remnants of the old sound lab pool right near where the new pool will be added,” he said.
According to a July report authored by the Downes Construction Company, May 5, 2025, is pegged as the “substantial completion date” for the project.
Reyes said he’ll know within a few weeks whether any “major surprises” will be found that might require dipping into a $1 million construction contingency account.
The project’s initial $30 million price tag, approved by the council in 2021, jumped by approximately $10 million as more detailed cost figures emerged, with the gap later filled with a combination of state and federal funding. The city was also awarded a $1.2 million grant through the state’s Brownfield Remediation program for pre-construction site work.
“It’s nice to see progress — finally,” Councilor Akil Peck said. “And I can’t wait to see it finished.”
Waterford residents criticize lack of information about data center
Daniel Drainville
Waterford ― Within the last two weeks, a group of residents met twice to share concerns over a proposed data center to be constructed on the Millstone Power Station property.
The 64 who attended the first meeting, and the 18 at the second, discussed their concerns about energy instability, environmental damage, noise and general lack of information during the initial planning phases of the project.
Additionally, a petition from Millstone owner Dominion to carve out space for the data center, is currently before the Connecticut Siting Council. Worried meeting attendees successfully petitioned the council to extend the deadline for public comment in order to allow more time for input.
“We were terrified of this petition,” meeting organizer Bryan Sayles said Wednesday.
That petition would give NE Edge, LLC, which is trying to develop its first data center, the opportunity to install the facility on the Millstone property.
“The entire site is an electric generating facility site, so we have jurisdiction over that area,” the council’s executive director, Melanie Bachman, said Wednesday.
If Dominion had not sought this ruling, the siting council would control the approval process for the proposed data center, instead of the town, Bachman added.
If the council approves Dominion’s request, state and local agencies, such as the local Planning and Zoning Commission and state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, will have the power to accept or reject the permits needed for the project.
She said she could not respond to concerns from residents, as they involved the data center, not the Millstone site.
A state law enacted in 2021 encouraged data centers to come to Connecticut by offering tax incentives to developers. As part of the program, the companies must sign agreements that outline how much money they’ll give to the towns they want to build in.
In February, the town began discussing an agreement with NE Edge. Per the agreement, NE Edge would pay the town $231 million over a 30-year period. The Board of Selectmen has approved the agreement, but is unknown if First Selectman Rob Brule has signed it.
Brule did not respond to multiple requests to discuss the status of the project over the past 10 days. NE Edge would not comment on the project this week.
Construction would include a pair of two-story data buildings, that would provide approximately 1.5 million square feet of storage for cloud and data servers. The centers would be supplied with energy directly from Millstone.
NE Edge would construct a third building, a switchyard, that would receive power from Millstone and distribute it to the data center.
Those who attended the meetings raised questions of whether the center would take valuable energy away from the electric grid and where that loss in clean energy would be made up, Sayles said.
“When you look at the scale for this project and the bill, you’re looking at an enormous amount of energy use that should be used to decarbonize our state and our region,“ Sayles said. ”If you look just at what the energy demand is, this data center is projected to use up to 300 megawatts of energy.“
Back in February, Millstone Site Vice President Michael O’Connor said the data center would stand to use 200 to 300 megawatts of the 2,100 megawatts that Millstone produces.
For example, Sayles said the power used by the data center would negate the 304 megawatts of energy that Connecticut’s first offshore wind farm, Revolution Wind, will eventually provide to the state.
“When you start taking away clean energy, then you’ve got to backfill using energy that’s produced with fossil fuels,” Sayles said.
Meanwhile, the chief concern since the project’s onset has been over noise pollution.
“There’s little in the way of information about noise control,” Sayles said.
The agreement with the town calls for a noise analysis conducted by NE Edge, Brule said back in February. It is unknown if that study has yet been done.
Sayles said his initial motivation for organizing the meetings was that he and other members had expressed frustration about their inability to access information about the project.
“This is something that is so impactful for the whole town, he needs to do a better job of providing information to the whole town,” Sayles said about Brule. “Why didn’t we know about it?”
“We’re asking them for transparency at this point,” he added.
Former Waterford First Selectman and Chief Executive of the Eastern Connecticut Chamber of Commerce Tony Sheridan said he thinks NE Edge has been transparent so so far.
“Any company that wants to develop in this day and age, has to have public meetings and explain what’s going on,” Sheridan said. “So far, from my perspective, I think the company has responded appropriately.”
New gas pipeline rules floated following 2018 blasts in Massachusetts
STEVE LeBLANC
BOSTON (AP) — Federal regulators are proposing a series of rules changes aimed at toughening safety requirements for millions of miles of gas distribution pipelines nationwide following a string of gas explosions in Massachusetts in 2018.
These proposed changes are designed to improve safety and ease risk through the improvement of emergency response plans, integrity management plans, operation manuals and other steps, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration.
This proposal was prompted by the series of blasts that ripped though parts of the Merrimack Valley region of Massachusetts.
The explosions and fires in Lawrence, Andover and North Andover in September 2018 left a teenager dead, about two dozen injured and destroyed or damaged more than 130 properties. Thousands of residents and businesses were also left without natural gas service for heat and hot water for months in some cases.
Leonel Rondon, of Lawrence, died after the chimney of an exploding house crashed onto his car and crushed him. The 18-year-old Rondon had received his driver’s license just hours earlier. Rondon's family later reached a settlement with the utility involved in the disaster.
The explosions were caused by overpressurized pipelines operated by Columbia Gas of Massachusetts, according to a federal investigation. The utility agreed to pay the state $56 million in 2020 in addition to a $53 million federal fine and a $143 million lawsuit settlement.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said millions of miles of gas distribution pipelines deliver energy to tens of millions of Americans, heating homes and powering businesses.
“As the tragic death of Leonel Rondon in 2018 reminded us, more must be done to ensure the safety of those pipelines,” Buttigieg said in a statement Thursday.
The proposal calls for improved construction procedures to minimize the risk of overpressurized pipelines and updated management programs to prepare for over-pressurization incidents.
The changes require new regulator stations to be designed with secondary pressure relief valves and remote gas monitoring to prepare gas distribution systems to avoid overpressurization and to limit damage during those incidents.
Finally, the plan calls for strengthening response plans for gas pipeline emergencies, including requirements for operators to contact local emergency responders and keep customers and the affected public informed of what to do in the event of an emergency.
The notice of the proposed rules changes will be published in the federal register, kicking off a public comment period. The agency will review the comments before issuing final rules.
In 2019, the National Transportation Safety Board, which investigates major pipeline accidents, recommended tougher nationwide requirements for natural gas systems, including mandating all natural gas infrastructure projects to be reviewed and approved by a licensed professional engineer.
Nineteen states had such a requirement at the time, but most had specifically exempted the natural gas industry from such review requirements.
The board had also recommended natural gas utilities be required to install additional safeguards on low pressure systems.
Regulators say the new proposal builds on other national and international actions pushed by Congress and the Biden administration to reduce methane emissions — a greenhouse gas with more than 25 times the global warming potential of carbon dioxide.
Earlier this year, the first $196 million from the nearly $1 billion Natural Gas Distribution Infrastructure Safety and Modernization grant program were announced.
NJR Construction LLC Building Bridges Across Conn., Western Mass.
Nicholas Mancini Jr. grew up around his family's construction business. In 2004, when they closed their doors, he picked from their best people and started NJR Construction LLC, specializing in small bridge building in the $1 million to $6 million range
Based in Torrington, Conn., with 20 to 30 employees, depending on the workload, the company does the majority of its work in Connecticut and western Massachusetts.
"We are generally a self-performing contractor," Mancini said. "We sub out very little work. We do our own excavating, concrete, carpentry, and utility work. By and large we try to handle all items of work ourselves. This way we can maintain control over our projects."
According to Mancini, typical projects are bridges with a span of 120-ft. or less that are cast-in-place or precast or culvert bridges.
Currently, the company is finishing up a $2.5 million bridge that is actually two bridges under one contract in Colebrook, Conn. One small bridge is being rehabbed and the other bridge is completely new construction.
In describing the project Mancini said, "This bridge is founded on ledge with cast-in-place spread footings and abutment walls, wing walls, all cast-in-place and a steel I-beam bridge with a cast-in-place bridge deck. The bridge is 110-feet long and 30-feet wide."
The project was started April 3, 2023, and is scheduled for completion in November 2023; NJR Construction is currently running ahead of schedule.
When Construction Equipment Guide visited the site, NJR was pouring the abutment #2 spread footings with approximately 80 yds. of concrete being put in place. As is the case in any bridge construction over moving water, the project has had its challenges with water level fluctuations.
"We got flooded out and had to pump all day to get the site back to the water level that it was at the day before," Mancini said. "This river is a relatively small body of water, but the water level fluctuates quite a bit. Fortunately, Able Tool & Equipment was able to respond to us very quickly and get additional pumps to us that could handle the additional influx of water that we were dealing with. Once we were able to get the site under control again, we rescheduled our pour and we are on schedule to complete the pour by the end of the day.
"During the course of this project, we have had two or three freak thunderstorms that have quickly dropped 2 or 3 inches of rain in a short period of time. Fortunately, our key rental partner, Able Tool & Equipment, has quickly dispatched plenty of pumping power to our site to get things back under control with 2 and 3-inch water pumps."
The major excavating equipment on the site is primarily Komatsu, which NJR has purchased from C.N. Wood. But, the majority of its smaller support equipment comes from Able Tool & Equipment, including small and large generators, water pumps, light towers, concrete equipment and demolition tools.
"Just about anything in that size category comes from Able Tool & Equipment," said Mancini. "If it is standard pieces that are commonly used on most of their projects they purchase, and specialty equipment is rented. If you walk around any of our sites you will see a lot of Able Tool & Equipment stickers on many of the machines. We really depend on them; they are a primary supplier and that is because their service is excellent. I am fortunate to deal directly with the owner, Derek Bauer. You can't find a better standup, honest person."
Employees Key to Success
"I have some fantastic employees that have been with me for a long time," Mancini said. "My project manager, Ryan Giguiere, has been with me for 13 years. He does an excellent job setting up and managing our projects, often managing multiple sites at one time. It's not unusual for us to have four to eight projects going simultaneously.
"I've got a fantastic concrete crew," he added. "My concrete foreman, William Sanchez, does an excellent job, as well. When you surround yourself with good people, the end result is good workmanship, and good people and good workmanship has given us a great reputation." CEG